Legal briefs lead service work

Identity groups are cashing in on a drive by service sector industries to use corporate image as a prime differentiation factor in increasingly competitive market places.

The trend is evident in the legal profession, with Fishburn Hedges unveiling an identity for law firm Osborne Clarke and Spencer

Landor’s recent work with high-profile solicitor Mishcon de Reya.

Vanessa Meaney, Fishburn Hedges consultant and researcher for the Osborne Clarke project, says companies in sectors where “the service proposition is often the same are recognising that their only way of standing out is to market their approach or attitude to business”.

She says: “Company culture is becoming one of the major clues in choosing who you do business with and this is reflected in image and identity. Osborne Clarke chose a radical identity route for its sector because it wanted to signal the fact it has a sense of humour, is daring and creative, but can also attack – hence the cat image.”

John Spencer, creative partner at Spencer Landor, says the Mishcon de Reya project was also driven by a need to “be different”. Spencer explains: “The company wanted to talk about how it approaches work, not just for people like the Princess of Wales, but also in the company, commercial and property sectors.”

The trend apparent in the legal profession will “happen in all the service sector industries – if it isn’t already happening”, adds Spencer.